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WILLIAMS ADDRESSES TRADE RUMORS
Posted by Mike Florio on March 26, 2008, 12:07 p.m.
Lions receiver Roy Williams has heard the rumors that he’s on the trading block. And he appears to be fine with staying, or with going.
“If it’s a football decision, it’s a dumb decision,” Williams said Tuesday. “But if it’s a business decision, then it’s going to be pretty good.”
Good for whom? At a minimum, good for Williams, since it means that he’d likely get a new contract as part of the transaction. (Note to any team interested in trading for Williams — make sure that you have permission to talk to his agent about a new deal before doing so.)
Williams is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Though he’s the only one of three wideouts taken by the Lions in the top ten of the draft during three straight years who turned out to be a good player, the Lions’ most recent high-end wideout, Calvin Johnson, likely will make Williams a luxury that the team doesn’t need, and can’t afford.
It’ll surely take a deal worth $10 million per year or more to keep Williams beyond 2008. So why not get value for him now and build around Johnson? Otherwise, the Lions eventually will find themselves in a situation where they’ve got to give Johnson $12 million per year or more, if the market continues to expand as it has. That’s simply too much money to invest in the receiver position.
Though Williams says he’d like to stay with the Lions, he’s realistic about the situation.
“I’m ready to do whatever,” he said. “If they want to make me a Lion for life, I’m good with that. If not, I’m just going to play my type of ball and see what happens after that.”
What happens after that could very well be the Lions watching him walk away with no compensation. So why not trade him now?
Then again, they also could slap the franchise tag on him in 2009, and trade him then. Assuming that they have the cap room to accomodate a one-year cap charge of roughly $9 million.
Williams has been linked most often in trade rumors to the Eagles, who made a run at Randy Moss in free agency, and reportedly tried to trade for Larry Fitzgerald.
Posted by Mike Florio on March 26, 2008, 12:07 p.m.
Lions receiver Roy Williams has heard the rumors that he’s on the trading block. And he appears to be fine with staying, or with going.
“If it’s a football decision, it’s a dumb decision,” Williams said Tuesday. “But if it’s a business decision, then it’s going to be pretty good.”
Good for whom? At a minimum, good for Williams, since it means that he’d likely get a new contract as part of the transaction. (Note to any team interested in trading for Williams — make sure that you have permission to talk to his agent about a new deal before doing so.)
Williams is entering the final year of his rookie contract. Though he’s the only one of three wideouts taken by the Lions in the top ten of the draft during three straight years who turned out to be a good player, the Lions’ most recent high-end wideout, Calvin Johnson, likely will make Williams a luxury that the team doesn’t need, and can’t afford.
It’ll surely take a deal worth $10 million per year or more to keep Williams beyond 2008. So why not get value for him now and build around Johnson? Otherwise, the Lions eventually will find themselves in a situation where they’ve got to give Johnson $12 million per year or more, if the market continues to expand as it has. That’s simply too much money to invest in the receiver position.
Though Williams says he’d like to stay with the Lions, he’s realistic about the situation.
“I’m ready to do whatever,” he said. “If they want to make me a Lion for life, I’m good with that. If not, I’m just going to play my type of ball and see what happens after that.”
What happens after that could very well be the Lions watching him walk away with no compensation. So why not trade him now?
Then again, they also could slap the franchise tag on him in 2009, and trade him then. Assuming that they have the cap room to accomodate a one-year cap charge of roughly $9 million.
Williams has been linked most often in trade rumors to the Eagles, who made a run at Randy Moss in free agency, and reportedly tried to trade for Larry Fitzgerald.
